to: clarify that ‘competition’ includes competition from goods and services that are capable of importation, in addition to those actually imported; confine the application of cartel conduct provisions to conduct affecting competition in Australian markets; change the scope of the joint venture exceptions; remove provisions relating to the anti-competitive disclosure of pricing and other information (known as price signalling); prohibit a corporation from engaging in a concerted practice that has the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition; remove the separate prohibition on exclusionary provisions; define ‘contract’ and ‘party’ to include covenants; increase the maximum penalty applying to breaches of the secondary boycott provisions; prohibit third line forcing only where it has the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition; enable a corporation or person to notify the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) of resale price maintenance conduct, as an alternative to seeking authorisation from the commission for such conduct; provide an exemption from the resale price maintenance prohibition for conduct between related bodies corporate; consolidate authorisation provisions, including those relating to mergers, into a single authorisation process; grant the ACCC with ‘class exemption’ and ‘stop notice’ powers; provide for reviews by the Australian Competition Tribunal of merger authorisation determinations by the ACCC; enable a party bringing certain proceedings to rely on both admissions of fact and finding of fact made in certain other proceedings; extend the ACCC’s power to obtain information, documents and evidence in relation to investigations of alleged contraventions or court enforceable undertakings and merger authorisation determinations, and introduce a ‘reasonable search’ defence in relation to the failure or refusal to comply with a notice to produce such documents; implement recommendations made by the Productivity Commission in relation to the National Access Regime; streamline administration of the Act, particularly in relation to requirements of the Australian Consumer Law; and make consequential amendments; and

to clarify the functions of the Australian Federal Police to enable cooperation with international organisations and non-government organisations;

Crimes Act 1914

to: clarify the custody notification obligations of investigating officials when they intend to question an Aboriginal person or Torres Strait Islander; create separate offence regimes for ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ for the disclosure of information relating to controlled operations; remove an obsolete reference to the death penalty; amend procedural requirements relating to protections of the identity of a vulnerable witness or complainant in a criminal proceeding; authorise collection, use and disclosure of information for the purposes of preventing, detecting, investigating or dealing with fraud or corruption against the Commonwealth; and enable the New South Wales Enforcement Conduct Commission to use and disclose spent conviction information; and

Criminal Code Act 1995

to increase the maximum applicable penalties for breach of the general dishonesty offences.

Implements the Government’s response to the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ report The 2016 Federal Election: Interim Report on the authorisation of voter communication by amending the:

Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918

to: apply the electoral authorisation requirements to modern communication channels; require all paid electoral advertising to be authorised; require entities subject to the electoral funding and financial disclosure regime to include this information in their political communications; ensure the obligation to authorise electoral and referendum matter primarily rests with those responsible for the decision to communicate it; and replace the current criminal non-compliance regime with a civil penalty regime to be administered by the Australian Electoral Commission;

Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984

,

Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1993

,

Broadcasting Services Act 1992

and

Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991

to harmonise authorisation requirements across broadcasting, electoral and referendum legislation;

Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946

to make consequential amendments; and

Criminal Code Act 1995

to introduce an offence which criminalises false representations in relation to a Commonwealth body.

to remove the requirement for the Indigenous Business Australia’s corporate plan to be tabled;

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Amendment Act 2005

to enable the appropriate consenting authority to waive the exercise of its statutory consent power by providing written notice;

Auditor-General Act 1997

to align the annual reporting requirements of the Auditor-General with his or her responsibility to the Parliament; and

Royal Commissions Act 1902

to: enable commissioners to compel the provision of a written statement; increase the penalty for failure to comply with a summons or notice to produce; replace references to penalties expressed as a number of dollars with penalties expressed as a number of penalty units; and enable the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department to be given custody of Royal Commission records by regulation. Also repeals the

to: supplement the ‘same business test’ with a ‘similar business test’ for the purposes of working out whether a company’s tax losses and net capital losses from previous income years can be used as a tax deduction in a current income year; and make consequential amendments; and

Income Tax Assessment Act 1997

to provide taxpayers with the choice to self-assess the effective life of certain intangible depreciating assets they start to hold on or after 1 July 2016.

to: amend provisions in relation to the operation of the Veterans’ Review Board and the Specialist Medical Review Council; enable international agreements to be made to cover the provision of benefits and payments including rehabilitation that are comparable to those provided by the Repatriation Commission or the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission; and make minor corrections;

Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004

and

Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986

in relation to the provision of certain rehabilitation assistance under an Employer Incentive Scheme;

Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004

to: enable information sharing between the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission and the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation in relation to certain service related compensation claims; and provide for the delegation of the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs’ powers and functions;

Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act 2006

,

Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004

and

Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986

to enable certain legislative instruments to incorporate matters contained in another non-disallowable legislative instrument or other non-legislative writings as in force from time to time;

to: amend account keeping and licence fee administration arrangements for commercial broadcasters and datacasting transmitter licensees; remove duplicative requirements for licensees, publishers and controllers to notify the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) of certain changes in control of regulated media assets; provide a consistent classification arrangement for all television programs, including films; and amend two statutory publication requirements;

National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011

to provide that NBN Co may dispose of surplus non-communications goods;

Telecommunications Act 1997

to: correct a technical error in relation to the admissibility of certain evidence in court proceedings; remove the requirement for the ACMA to consult with an advisory committee before declaring a submarine cable protection zone; and remove the ability of NBN Co to issue and keep a register of statements that it will not be installing fibre in a new real estate development;

Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005

and

Broadcasting Services Act 1992

to remove duplication in the complaints handling and information gathering functions of the ACMA;

Competition and Consumer Act 2010

to remove the ability of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to issue tariff filing directions to certain carriers and carriage service providers;

Competition and Consumer Act 2010

and

Telecommunications Act 1997

to amend the statutory information collection powers of the ACMA and the ACCC;

to enable a policy framework to broaden and expand the conditions under which a positive test result of prohibited substances must be disregarded;

Defence Reserve Service (Protection) Act 2001

to: extend the application of employment, partnership and education protections to all types of Reserve service; extend the application of financial liability and bankruptcy protections to full time service that is operational service; protect reservists in the workplace from harassment or detriment including victimisation relating to their status or service as a reservist; and introduce a civil penalty regime to complement existing criminal offences;

Defence Reserve Service (Protection) Act 2001

and the proposed

Regulatory Powers (Standardisation Reform) Act 2017

to make amendments contingent on the commencement of the

Regulatory Powers (Standardisation Reform) Act 2017

;

Intelligence Services Act 2001

,

Navigation Act 2012

and

Telecommunications Act 1997

to transfer hydrographic, meteorological and oceanographic functions from the Royal Australian Navy to the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation; and

Australian Defence Force Cover Act 2015

to: align certain provisions with other military superannuation schemes; and clarify the definition of an eligible child of a member or invalid.

to require employers to pay a base rate of pay, full rate of pay and any casual loading that is not less than the relevant award or national minimum wage for employees covered by an enterprise agreement.

to: enable statutory research and development corporations to undertake marketing activities funded by voluntary contributions; remove the requirement that the corporations can undertake marketing only where a marketing levy is attached to the corporation; and enable corporations to undertake incidental activities such as consulting about, or planning, marketing activities.